(PC) Driver v. Kern County Superior Court ( 2021 )

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BILLY DRIVER, JR.,, No. 2: 20-cv-1665 JAM KJN P 12 Plaintiff, 13 v. ORDER 14 KERN COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT, et al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 18 Plaintiff is a state prisoner, proceeding without counsel, with a civil rights action pursuant 19 to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Pending before the court is plaintiff’s motion for return of his books and 20 legal documents. (ECF No. 33.) The undersigned construes plaintiff’s motion as a motion for a 21 protective order. See Wilson v. Nesbeth, 2011 WL 4043569, at *1 (E.D. Cal. Sept. 9, 2011) 22 (magistrate judges are authorized to issue orders for non-dispositive orders or motions not 23 involving injunctive relief). 24 For the reasons stated herein, plaintiff’s motion for return of his books and legal 25 documents is denied. 26 In the pending motion, plaintiff requests that his legal property, law books, dictionary and 27 California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (“CDCR”) approved tablet be returned 28 to him. On May 24, 2021, the undersigned directed defense counsel to contact the litigation 1 | coordinator at the California Health Care Facility (“CHCF”), where plaintiff is housed, and to 2 || inform the court of what access, if any, plaintiff presently has to his legal property related to this 3 || case. (ECF No. 37.) 4 On June 15, 2021, defense counsel filed a response to the May 24, 2021 order. (ECF No. 5 || 52.) Attached to the response is the declaration of Correctional Officer S. Beruman, who works 6 || asa property officer and distributes property to inmates on B yard. (ECF No. 52-1.) Officer 7 | Beruman states, in relevant part, 8 3. On May 24, 2021, I provided inmate Billy Driver (D-35391) with legal property. Mr. Driver was housed at a Psychiatric Inpatient 9 Program at that time. Based on existing policies, before I could provide him with legal property, I needed to get approval from his 10 treatment team regarding what property was allowed. Mr. Driver’s treatment team provided that approval for much of his property, 11 including legal material, on or about May 17, 2021. 12 4. A true and correct copy of a property inventory form for inmate Driver, showing he received legal material on May 24, 2021, is 13 attached as Exhibit A to this declaration. Inmate Driver signed that 14 form to acknowledge receipt of four boxes of property. 5. Mr. Driver had an electronic tablet when he came to this facility, 15 but he was not allowed to keep that tablet because it is a JPay tablet, and to my knowledge, that type of tablet is only allowed at certain 16 CDCR facilities where a pilot program regarding tablets is currently being instituted. California Health Care Facility is not part of that 17 program. The tablet is currently being stored for Mr. Driver within the institution. 18 19 | (Id. at 2.) 20 The declaration of S. Beruman shows that plaintiff received all of his legal property 21 || except for his tablet. Plaintiff does not require his tablet in order to prosecute this action. 22 || Accordingly, plaintiff's motion for return of his books and legal documents is denied because 23 | plaintiff received the legal property he requires to prosecute this action. 24 Accordingly, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that plaintiff's motion for return of his books 25 || and legal documents (ECF No. 33) is denied. 26 | Dated: June 25, 2021 Drl 665 Frees Aharon □□ (kc) 28 KENDALL J. NE _ UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE